Vertigo, Part 8

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it.

Day Five

Tokyo-3, Japan
Horaki Residence
After Dinner

"Stay, child." Koichi Horaki said softly at his middle daughter. "We have much to talk about."

Motomu Horaki nodded gravely. "Important matters we need to discuss." He turned to his eldest granddaughter, "Kodama, be sure little Nozomi finishes her homework. This matter concerns your sister, and is better kept private for her to decide her course."

"But…" she began to argue, but a sharp glance from her grandfather silenced her. The old man rarely got in that mindset, but when he did so, no discussion was allowed. "Yes, Grandfather." She left the room, her brow knitted in worry. Whatever had happened, it was very serious. But she sensed no anger coming from the family patriarchs. Hikari was a very sensible girl, so she doubted there had been any… indiscretion… on her part. And Hikari herself wasn't agitated.

Once Kodama had left, her father faced her, his hands on his knees. "Your friends were very forthcoming about your options, and the possible risks you would be exposed to if you accept."

Her grandfather had his hands resting on his own thighs. "You are made of stern stuff, Hikari, it comes from my side of the family; from your mother, you inherited her heart, her goodness, her kindness." He said. "I resented your mother at first. You know it. We came from very different worlds, and I thought she was not worthy of my son. That she was soft, docile. Back when we didn't know better."

"Was it because she was an orphan country girl on a sports scholarship?" She asked, fearing the answer. "And Father a full marks college student?"

Motomu shook his head. "Back then, I would have thought so, but no." His eyes shone red for a moment, and his skin paled. "I didn't know better then. I was angry at this world, and I did not even know why. But she won me over, even before Second Impact. She was gentle and brave, fierce and soft. A walking dichotomy with the biggest heart I've even known. After Second Impact, I realized how brave, how determined she was. If not for her, many people would have despaired, back in the early days after Second Impact."

He sighed. "I come from a very… aggressive, hostile, and violent upbringing, Hikari. Fight or die, it was. To make us strong and ruthless, our elders said." He began to unbutton his shirt.

Hikari gasped, covering her mouth with a hand, scared and expecting to see gang tattoos on her gentle's grandfather's skin. But there was none. Calmly, the man took off the shirt and put an old bathrobe, ratty and threadbare. "No. I was not a Yakuza nor any kind of gangster."

Koichi lowered his head, "I was too young when the ship arrived here, a teenager eager to conquer, to cut loose, and show his bravery to prove his worth. I was almost of age, so I was not allowed in the first wave."

"Our leaders had planned for everything, or so they thought." Motomu pulled a messenger bag from under the table, and pushed it towards Hikari. "They were wrong. At first, everything went as planned. Open the first paper." He said.

The pigtailed girl did so. The heading read "Who are the Hyperclan?" (1) And the subheading "Alien visitors from a dead world?"

Hikari looked at the picture in the first page, there were eight people of wildly varying shapes and colors. Under the picture, text identified each one. Shinji would love to read this paper… She focused back on the content.

Protex, the leader, an impossibly handsome golden man, with a warm smile and long hair. He wore white pants, with golden boots and a cloak the same color, with a red Sun clasp.

Armek, a giant encased in a powerfully built armor. He looked like a mecha from Kensuke's manga.

Primaid, a tall and haughty woman with pale skin, dressed in a tight blue uniform. Her long hair down at her back, reaching down to her waist. Hikari compared her to a Yuki-Onna.

A-Mortal, an aloof and scary figure. A thin man with a skull mask and body hidden under a ragged white cloth. He only needed a scythe to look like a modern version of Death.

Fluxus, the shape-changer. He looked like a body-builder made of stone.

Tronix, a dark skinned, bald, muscular woman in form-fitting tights, with what looked like high-tech armor pieces.

Zenturion, a tall man, carrying a round shield in his right hand. His uniform was blue and white, and his mask only showed his mouth and chin.

ZüM, the speedster, with a white Mohawk and a maniac's grin, his eyes hidden behind opaque red goggles. His uniform was black and white, with vertical lightning bolts.

Koichi exhaled, "Invaders. Under false colors, their looks and behaviors carefully modeled to elicit awe and trust. All of them pretending to be heroes instead of infiltrators, preparing the Earth for a full-scale invasion. We were there, Hikari. From the very beginning."

Her eyes opened wide, her irises brown dots completely surrounded by white. "You mean..?"

Koichi and Motomu nodded, "Yes." Their faces seemed to melt like wax statues in a fire, for a moment, Hikari saw two rhomboidal faces, with white skin, red pupil-less eyes, and sharp fangs in a shark-like mouth. There was a crackling, popping sound as bone, cartilage, and muscle flowed into a different shape. Both men were in evident pain, and they returned to their normal shapes a moment later, gasping and wincing. "We are… white martians…"

"And your name, your true name, is H'Karii H'Rakki." The man she had known her whole life as her father said, with a look of sadness and fierce pride combined. "Dawnstar FiveBlades is a more or less accurate translation." (2)

"Kami…" she swallowed the lump in her throat. Her eyes down, looking at the floor.

'It's a shock. I know.' Her Father said, his voice deep, resonant and soothing.

'The Hyperclan defeated the JLA, and captured so they could broadcast their execution to the world, but it was not to be. The JLA found a way to win. The Hyperclan underestimated them, especially the Batman. They thought a baseline human would be nothing to worry about. A man without powers, what could he do? What threat did he represent to eight super powerful shape-shifters?' Motomu said and snorted, "Then, the Batman, alone in his enemies' fortress, defeated the Hyperclan, most of them. Once he intervened, the battle was lost.'

'The JLA won, we were completely defeated. Helpless. But they showed us mercy.' Koichi continued.

Hikari heard her grandfather sigh. 'J'Onn J'Onzz, the Martian Manhunter, held our fate in his hands. For ages, the White Martians had been sworn enemies of the Green Martians, locked in a genocidal war. He could have killed us. Our leaders would not have hesitated to kill him, the last Green, but instead, he did something else."

Koichi continued, 'He gave us another chance, our sentence was to be nothing but humans. Our memories of Mars, of the war, of our lives, all were suppressed. He gave us new memories, new lives, and a place in this planet. We believed ourselves human.'

'He gave me a job here in Japan, under one of his identities. Yuchiro Takata (3). And he took good care of me and my son. We settled down, and after several years; well, we became the masks.'

"You could be superheroes! You could do so much for the world!" She looked up, at her Father, then to her Grandfather.

'To do so, we would need to unlock our powers, but that would break our conditioning.' Koichi said, but his lips didn't move. Hikari looked at him. 'Telepathy.' Her father shrugged. 'One of our gifts. But only among family, and at a close range. We don't dare to go further.'

Motomu showed her the last newspaper, depicting figures that resembled the other faces of the Horaki men. Powerfully built monsters, that made her think of a strange mix of human, demon, shark and even bat, with skins white as paper and blood-red eyes, so different from Rei's gentle eyes it almost hurt; their arms were long and muscular, while the legs were relatively short and digitigrade; each finger and toe ended in a sharp claw, behind then long, bony tails with a sharp bone spur at the end; but the one thing that made Hikari shiver was the belly. Kami! There was a mouth there! With fangs as long as her fingers! The mouth of a predator, made to tear flesh from bones in a single movement.

Her grandfather continued, his mouth just as immobile. 'We would revert to being blood-thirsty monsters, Daughter.'

"Then…" she said, her voice full of fear, "Am I a monster?" She looked at her hands, half expecting to see a sharp talon at the end of each finger.

Koichi took her hands in his. 'No. We were monsters because we were raised to be monsters. You are no more of a monster than your sisters or your friends. Your Martian abilities are locked, for your own safety. So are Kodama's and Nozomi's. We had planned to tell you each once you reached majority, but this forced our hand."

Motomu snorted, 'Your friend, Shinji? He knows about the JLA, doesn't he? What would he say?'

Hikari bit her lip, thinking, "I don't know… if he knows about the White Martians…"

Koichi shook his head, 'We are straying. The matter is, now that you know who we are, and what we are; do you accept NERV's proposal? Do you want to risk it?"

Her warm brown eyes looked at them alternatively. "Yes."

'Why?' Motomu asked.

Hikari thought about it for a few seconds. "Because my friends need me to." She raised her head, proudly.

"Then, there's no more to be said." Motomu nodded. This time actually speaking.

"Umm… I… I have some questions." They nodded, "Was Mom a White Martian too?"

'No. She was perfectly human. You and your sisters are half-Human and half-Martian, you will be less powerful than a pure blooded Martian, but also, better adapted to life on Earth. We will tell you everything later. For now, go to sleep. We will address your questions tomorrow. The next days will be hard.'

"We will handle the rest. For now."

—

The two men were left alone in the room. Distantly, they heard the three girls getting ready to sleep.

They stayed there for a long time, in silence.

Finally, Koichi stood up. He retrieved his phone and called the number written on a card.

"Lt. Ibuki? Koichi Horaki. Yes. We have decided. Please come tomorrow after school. Bring all the documents."

Day Six

Tokyo-3, Japan
GeoFront
NERV HQ
Hospital Wing

"Are you out of your mind?" Toji Suzuhara exclaimed. "This is dangerous, Hikari. It's not a… a… it's really bad!"

"I know, Toji. But I have been selected. I can't just stay idle and let somebody else…"

"Die." He finished for her.

"That's it, call Dr. Akagi right now and tell her you have second thoughts or sumthing!" He tried to get up, despite the doctor's orders.

She put a hand on his chest, softly pushing him back. "Toji." She said, her voice barely audible. "Please. Calm down. You'll hurt yourself!"

He resisted for a moment, but yielded in the end. "I…" his voice was very small. "I don't want you to…"

She kissed his forehead. "I know. And I thank you. But it is done, Grandfather convinced NERV to set me up as a back-up pilot. Once they get Asuka back, I'll happily stand down."

He looked at her from a side. "You really think they can get her back?"

"Yes. Shinji is sure. We spoke at length yesterday, when he and Rei went to talk with my family. He has not lead us wrong yet, has he?"

"Uh, no?"

"He said that as he didn't have the chance to actually train you, he will do his best to teach me what I have to do."

"Tell me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem the fighting type."

She smiled, closing her eyes for a moment, "You'd be surprised. Just because I don't like to fight, doesn't mean I can't."

"I don't like the idea, Hikari."

"Neither do I. Tell you something. Once you get wheelchair privileges, I'd like you to be my coach, ok?"

"I can do that." He paused, awkwardly scratching the side of his head with the opposite hand. "I think Red had a personal combat trainer. Rei or Shinji must know who."

"I'll ask."

Tokyo-3, Japan
GeoFront
NERV HQ
Pribnow Box, Control Room

"For now, we won't be putting you in an actual Evangelion Unit." Lt. Ibuki explained. "Those," she pointed out of the thick reinforced lexglass panels, "are dummy bodies. They are basically Evangelion torsos, made to measure synch between pilot and EVA Units, study their combat performance, etc."

Shinji nodded. "As Lt. Ibuki said, those are simulators. We can use them to train without deploying the real EVAs." He glanced quickly towards Maya, she had reminded him that the event when all three pilots had been ejected to a nearby lake had been classified.

As he remembered the specific details of those events, his face went cherry red. "Butyou'llhavetobenaked!" He blurted.

"Wait, what?"

Maya shook her head. "Sorry. Shinji meant that you'll have to be naked for the test and the calibration. The system can't get accurate readings through any kind of clothes. Even the Plugsuits interfere."

Hikari went red too. "You mean you and Asuka..?"

"And Rei, too." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "It was the most embarrassing thing I've ever done."

"Let's just say that there are ways around it, Hikari. Anyway, we won't be doing that procedure today. Dr. Akagi ordered that you must know the complete procedures before actually going through."

"Um… okay. Could Rei do it instead of Shinji?"

"Unfortunately, due to budget restrictions, all three with have to participate." She sighed, "This test is awfully expensive. The cost of a single test is prohibitively high. Commander Ikari has standing orders to use as many simbodies as possible simultaneously."

Both pilots' faces seemed to glow incandescent.

The Dreaming
Cemetery Between the House of Secrets and the House of Mystery

"Show yourself!" Asuka ordered, tightening her grip on the stone she had in her right hand, ready to use it as a projectile or a club.

From behind the tree, an emaciated man peeked out. His eyes were sunken in his face, his black hair and beard unkempt and tangled. He wore a red, long-sleeved shirt, and faded blue jeans. "Sorry! You startled me."

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" Asuka shifted her weight from one foot to the other, ready to fight.

"Um…" the man rubbed the back of his head. "I'm Billy. Billy Batson. And… and i really don't know how I came to be here." He looked down to himself, and jumped back a couple of steps. "Holy moley!" He exclaimed, "What happened?"

"What?" Asuka growled, impatiently.

Billy looked up at her, then down at his hands. "Look at me! I'm old!"

"You look like late twenties, early thirties to me. Not too old, I think."

"You don't understand! I'm fourteen years old!" The man shook his hands in front of his face. "I'm a kid!"

"Oh, great" Asuka rolled her eyes. "You're dead and you hadn't even realized?" She didn't have any inclination to be tactful even in normal circumstances, much less here in the Dreaming.

"Wait. What? Dead?" He fell to his knees.

"Your name is William Joseph Batson? Born in 1988?" (4)

"Yes! How do you know that?" He wheezed.

Asuka crooked a finger, beckoning him to follow her. Still, she kept the stone in a firm grasp.

She pointed at the open grave. "Looks like you're kinda dead. What's the last thing you remember?"

He sat down on the ground, next to the tombstone. "I… I was in rescue duty… rescued some kids from a collapsed building… and it… fell down on me… I don't remember anything else, until I heard you calling my name." (5)

Asuka tapped her chin with her left index finger. "Look, I'm not sure how this works. I might be wrong, but… oh, it's better if you see it by yourself. Look around, check the tombstones. Any familiar names?"

Billy ran from grave to grave, a few names were familiar, yes, but many were not, though the symbols engraved in each tombstone were. "So… I'm dead?"

"Seems so. Sorry."

"Not your fault, I guess." He deflated. "Now what?" He said, miserably; he pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket, turned around, and blew his nose, trying to be discrete about it.

Asuka sat down too. "I don't know." She hesitated. "I wish I could tell you."

"I guess I should just accept I'm dead…"

"Well, you have that option." A new voice spoke. "You could stay here in the Dreaming if you ask nicely."

Author Notes.

(1) All the info about the Hyperclan and the White Martians' invasion was taken from JLA, issues 1-4 (Jan to Apr, 1997). The White Martians debuted in Justice League of America, issue 71 (May, 1969), but were a very different from the Post-Zero Hour version described here.

(2) Both the name and the translation are original. Though her first name is an homage to the Legionnaire of the same name. Dawnstar made a small appearance in chapter 83, "Crisis Event, Part 1"

(3) Though both Koichi and Motomu Horaki are original characters, the 70+ White Martians involved were forcibly assimilated as humans. For this fic purposes, all of them were relocated to cities and identities close to one of Martian Manhunter's own alternate identities, to supervise them. Update: in their review of the chapter, Captain Bardiel noted that Hikari's father was named Bunzaemon Horaki. When I was checking the NGE Wikia for that info, I only looked into the original series and didn't think on checking the Rebuilds. I chose Koichi and Motomu as a reference to the voice actors who played Ryoji Kaji and Kozo Fujutsuki; respectively; Kōichi Yamadera and the late Motomu Kiyokawa. I will keep these name, and consider that the different names are a similar case to Asuka's surname; Soryu in NGE vs Shikinami in the Rebuild.

(4) The dates are quite hard to place… due to comic book time, of course, I used a simple estimate on account of Billy Batson's apparent age.

(5) Billy has been in coma since the building collapsed on top of him. He has spent years in the Dreaming, unconscious, close to his own grave. Asuka calling his name woke him up, but only in the Dreaming. His body is still on Earth.